| Rank | Team | LW | Change |
| 1 | Purdue Fort Wayne | 1 | – |
| 2 | Green Bay | 2 | – |
| 3 | Cleveland State | 3 | – |
| 4 | Northern Kentucky | 5 | +1 |
| 5 | Robert Morris | 4 | -1 |
| 6 | IU Indianapolis | 9 | +3 |
| 7 | Oakland | 7 | – |
| 8 | Detroit Mercy | 10 | +2 |
| 9 | Milwaukee | 11 | +2 |
| 10 | Youngstown State | 6 | -4 |
| 11 | Wright State | 8 | -3 |
There are many impressive things about what Purdue Fort Wayne is doing right now, but one is how the Mastodons have been absolutely dismembering opponents during the most recent leg of their 17-game winning streak. Five of the last seven contests on the list have ended with a margin of 22 points or greater, including 75-46 and 74-52 wins over Oakland and Wright State this past week. That leads into another thing: while the shooting of Lauren Ross and a virtually mistake-free offense have generated a lot of the hype with this team, the Dons’ defense has quietly crept into the national top 100 in points allowed. A big reason for that? Rebounding. Even with Jazzy Linbo still sidelined, Sydney Graber – who missed a couple weeks herself last month – has filled in admirably. Graber nearly grabbed more offensive boards than Oakland by herself, then she logged her first career double-double against Wright State.
Green Bay is a team that goes on numerous large scoring runs, many of which seem to be timed perfectly within the context of the game at hand. What the Phoenix did against Robert Morris on Saturday might qualify as one of its best: after a solid start by the visiting Colonials, Green Bay held a 20-18 lead with 7:15 remaining in the second quarter. With 3:33 remaining in the third quarter, the scoreboard read 56-20, in favor of the Phoenix. If you don’t like math, that’s a 36-2 run that transformed an intriguing game against a team that was playing well (and still is, despite the result) into a total laugher and a 14th victory in a row for Kayla Karius’ squad. GB and Purdue Fort Wayne each have a game remaining against Cleveland State, but beyond a stumble by one or the other against the Vikings, it’s probable that the Horizon League regular season championship will come down to the Mastodons’ visit to the Kress Events Center on March 1st.
Cleveland State exacted a bit of revenge for the clunkiest of the Vikings’ three conference losses by running past Oakland 79-58 on Saturday. The game was a bit of a throwback in at least one sense, as the Vikings were led offensively by Destiny Leo, who knocked down five of her nine three-point attempts on the way to 20 points. The 2022-23 Horizon League Player of the Year missed most of last season with an ACL tear, of course, and subsequently made a position switch to wing, which demands more of her defensively while leaving a lot of the scoring glory to the likes of Mickayla Perdue and Jordana Reisma. Nevertheless, Leo’s shot is still one of the nation’s best – she’s 16th nationally in made three-pointers per game – a fact Detroit Mercy also learned on Thursday when she went 4-for-5 from deep to help CSU lock down a 72-55 school day game victory over the Titans.
Though Northern Kentucky only played one game this past week, at IU Indianapolis on Saturday, the Norse made it count with one of the more memorable finishes in any HL game this season. NKU was tied with the Jaguars in the final ten seconds, and in possession of the ball, when Kamora Morgan’s turnaround attempt from the lane fell well short of the rim. The airball ended in good fortune though, as it landed in the hands of Halle Idowu, who made a spectacular putback attempt under heavy pressure to give the Norse the lead. There was still enough time left for a Jag response, but Idowu stole the ball from Nevaeh Foster and was fouled, with one of the ensuing free throws setting the 82-79 final score. Idowu’s 22 points led the victorious squad, though Morgan, Macey Blevins, Anna Hamilton, and Mya Meredith also scored in double figures, with Meredith adding 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.
Though Robert Morris was obliterated by Green Bay on Saturday, the Colonials did at least manage to grab the Wisconsin split that’s typically treated as the qualified success that it is, thanks to a comeback win at Milwaukee on Thursday. RMU trailed 47-39 entering the fourth quarter, then proceeded to hold the Panthers to just five points across the final ten minutes (including a scoreless drought of 7:26) to collect a sixth conference victory – a number that already represents the program’s second-best total since joining the Horizon League. Isys Grady was fantastic during the Colonials’ surge, including a three that signaled its unofficial start, as well as four free throws down the stretch to help cut off any Milwaukee reply. Despite two fairly competitive losses to Purdue Fort Wayne, RMU might not have the gas to win against the top of the conference, but nevertheless, a top-half standings finish and a tournament win or two would be a resounding success for Chandler McCabe’s first season.
IU Indianapolis was the tough-luck loser after the heroics of Northern Kentucky and Idowu, with that result in spite of 31 points by Katie Davidson. The Jaguars led for the vast majority of that contest, including by six with eight minutes remaining, before NKU replied with an immediate 7-0 run to send the game down to the closing moments. The news was much better for the Jags on Wednesday at Wright State, when Davidson’s 28 points led the way to a wire-to-wire 80-68 victory over the Raiders. Davidson is now the HL’s number two scorer behind Cleveland State’s Perdue, though the WSU result also depended heavily on the likes of Foster (17 points, four rebounds, three steals) and Alexa Hocevar (15 points, seven rebounds, four assists). That trio was a combined 25-for-39 from the floor, most of IU Indy’s 54.2 percent effort that day.
Oakland had a tough week, though expectedly so, given that the Golden Grizzlies’ task involved games at Purdue Fort Wayne and Cleveland State, teams that were able to shut down Maddy Skorupski (the superstar shot 2-for-11 in each game and produced 16 total points) and withstand great outings from counterpart Macy Smith (40 total points on 13-for-27 shooting) in blowout results. The more concerning situation is that since upsetting the Vikings back on January 3rd, Oakland is just 2-8. Of course, that’s less of a problem than it should be in a Horizon League where only three teams have shown any sort of consistency, so OU still finds itself in a three-way tie for fourth place and with as good of a shot at securing the final home quarterfinal spot as anyone else. The Grizzlies host Green Bay this week (completing a gauntlet of PFW, CSU and the Phoenix in consecutive games), but after that, they have a manageable closing schedule.
Detroit Mercy has at least one thing in common with its suburban rival: despite not playing particularly well lately (UDM has lost five games in a row and, like Oakland, is 2-8 in their last ten outings), the Titans still find themselves in prime position for a great seed in the conference tournament if they can get things turned back around relatively quickly. Emaia O’Brien was unconscious in Thursday’s 72-55 loss at Cleveland State, including six three-pointers and 25 points, though running mate Aaliyah McQueen was held to a 4-for-12 shooting day and ten points. Those two stars, as well as a deep supporting cast highlighted by Makayla Jackson, Myonna Hooper, and Kailey Starks, will need to be at their best down the closing stretch of UDM’s schedule, which includes Green Bay (this week), Purdue Fort Wayne (next week), and Northern Kentucky (in two weeks).
Despite remaining last in the HL standings, Milwaukee has had a pretty solid couple of weeks. After beating IU Indy and playing Cleveland State tough, the Panthers followed up with a loss to Robert Morris in a game that, frankly, UWM should have won, followed by a Senior Day victory over Youngstown State. The latter game was led by one of those seniors, Anna Lutz (who, by the way, is a mechanical engineering/astrophysics major). Lutz scored 20 points, while adding eight rebounds and three blocked shots to win the matchup with YSU’s talented post group. However, it was a pair of younger players, Jorey Buwalda and Kamy Peppler, who provided several of the decisive moments, including the Panthers’ final eight points (six of those at the free throw line) to pull ahead in a game that was tied with three minutes remaining. Peppler also had 20 points in the loss to RMU.
Milwaukee’s win on Saturday spoiled a fantastic game by Malia Magestro, Youngtown State’s longest-tenured player. Magestro scored 24 points, one (paige) shy of her career high thanks largely to five three-points and a perfect 4-for-4 effort on shots inside the arc. Had YSU not gone cold as soon as Magrestro tied the game with 3:03 remaining, the Penguins’ Wisconsin trip would have probably been considered a massive success. Two days before losing to the Panthers, YSU put forward a surprising effort in the house of horrors known as the Kress Events Center to most, hanging tight with Green Bay most of the way (it was a six-point game with 3:33 to go) in an eventual 58-47 loss. Magestro, Jewel Watkins, and Sophia Gregory carried most of the offensive weight, though the game was competitive largely thanks to the Guins’ perimeter defense, which limited the Phoenix to 3-for-16 from three-point range.
On paper, Wright State is still within range of a first-round bye in the Horizon League tournament – they’re 4-11 in conference play, while the teams presently in a three-way tie for fourth are all 6-8. However, with just five games remaining, the Raiders would have to be just about perfect from here on out, and that just doesn’t seem very likely after Wednesday, when WSU lost at home against an IU Indianapolis team in the same standings zip code, and now faces a pretty tough closing schedule, including Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky, and Robert Morris. That IU Indy result came despite Amaya Staton, possibly the most underrated player in the conference this year, who delivered a monster effort of 22 points and 11 rebounds against the Jags. Three days later, Staton posted her third consecutive double-double (and ninth of the season) with a 13-11 line against league-leading Purdue Fort Wayne.
Player of the Week
Katie Davidson (IU Indianapolis)
Given Halle Idowu’s late-game heroics, Destiny Leo’s prolific aerial assault in a pair of victories, and Macy Smith’s stellar outings against two top-of-the-league teams, picking a singular player of the week is a daunting assignment. Ultimately though, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Davidson laid down two of the 15 best offensive games by a Horizon League player this season within one week.
Also considered: Destiny Leo (Cleveland State), Halle Idowu (Northern Kentucky), Macy Smith (Oakland), Malia Magestro (Youngstown State), Maddy Schreiber (Green Bay), Sydney Graber (Purdue Fort Wayne), Amaya Staton (Wright State)
Past winners:
February 2: Jordan Reid (Purdue Fort Wayne)
January 26: Raissa Nsabua (Robert Morris)
January 19: Mickayla Perdue (Cleveland State)
January 12: Natalie McNeal (Green Bay)
January 5: Sydney Freeman (Purdue Fort Wayne)
December 29: Maddy Skorupski (Oakland)
December 22: Aaliyah McQueen (Detroit Mercy)
December 15: Jordana Reisma (Cleveland State)
December 8: Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
December 1: Halle Idowu (Northern Kentucky)
November 24: Lauren Ross (Purdue Fort Wayne)
